New shoes
by Nice-one
Summary: One-parter! Buffy gets an interesting opportunity, but she's not sure she wants it and she doesn't know what to do about it. The answer to her problem seems to be pretty easy. - A fic written around an idea Joss Whedon came up with, but never used -


Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any of the characters. Joss Whedon is one lucky guy! Come to think of it: I don't own the idea of this fic either! Joss deserves all credit for it!

A/N: So...I basically got this idea from Joss himself! Sounds interesting, huh? Well, what can I say? We're old palls! Kidding of course! No, it's just an idea he had come up with and wanted to use for an episode, but ended up not using...Anyway, he mentioned this at a convention or something and I totally fell in love with it, so I thought I would write a one-parter about it. Maybe some of you heard about this idea too...maybe there is other fanfiction written about this, but I just wanted to use it anyway. This is probably not exactly how Joss wanted to use the idea, but..this is called fanfiction, right? So I can do whatever I want. :-)

Pairing(s): Not sure. I don't think there are any pairings in this fic...Well...maybe one, but I can't tell you without spoiling the story.

Spoilers: Ony for those of you who haven't seen season 6 and 7 yet.

- Takes place towards the end of season 7 -

Enjoy and please review!

Steffanie (a.k.a Nice-one)

* * *

**New shoes**

Buffy sighed. She really didn't have time for this. She should be at home, figuring out a plan to beat the First, not walking through the woods because of some vague clue Giles had found in one of his books.This time it was one of his newer books. About unexplained things or something. He had read something about a miracle-cave near the Hellmouth and now he wanted her to check it out. Like she didn't have anything better to do. She knew it wasn't fair to think that way about Giles. He was like a father to her and she loved him to death (interesting choice of words). It was just...sometimes he would drive her crazy. Things had been so different between them lately. Maybe it was because she was an adult now and she didn't need someone to tell her what to do anymore and Giles had trouble letting go. Almost like a real father. Well...she was in the woods now anyway, so she could just as well make the best of it. For the past couple of days she had been to a lot of caves all over Sunnydale. None of them seemed to be the right one though. Tonight she was going to the last cave Giles could think of and honestly, she was kind of relieved. When she reached the cave, she took her loyal stake from her back pocket. Just in case...

When she entered the cave and saw the bright light coming towards her, she knew it was too late to escape. She knew there was nothing she could do to avoid it. She didn't know what it was and didn't have the time to figure it out. When the light hit her, she immediately passed out and fell to the ground.

* * *

Buffy slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room. Her room. Her bedroom. She tried to sit up, but quickly changed her mind. She felt horrible. Like she had partied four nights in a row, without sleeping. It took her a few minutes before she could fully opened her eyes and that's when she noticed Willow and Giles standing next to her bed. They seemed worried. 

"What happened?" Buffy asked, sleepily.

"We should ask you the same question." Giles answered.

Buffy did another attempt in trying to sit up. Willow stepped forward and helped her. Buffy held her hand through her hair and moaned out of frustration.

"I need an aspirin" she said.

"I'll get you one" Willow said and she left the room.

Buffy looked up at Giles.

"How did I get here?"

"What do you mean?" Giles asked.

"Well...how did I get here? All I remember is stepping into a cave and being attacked by a pretty light...after that...nothing. Just weird dreams."

Giles frowned. His typical Giles frown. It used to worry Buffy, because it usually meant something bad was going on, but she had learned to appreciate it over the years. It had become comforting.

"You just came home last night."

"I did?" Buffy asked, a little confused.

"You even talked to us"

"I did?!" She asked again, surprised.

"After that you went to bed."

"I did? Wait....I did." Buffy said, suddenly remembering certain parts of last night.

It had felt like a dream, but apparently it hadn't been one. She felt very confused right now.

"Are you okay?" Giles asked.

"Yeah, fine. Just...weird."

"Tell me about the dreams"

"Dreams?"

"You mentioned the dreams earlier."

"Right. Dreams. I'm just not so sure if they were really dreams anymore. Apparently, everything that happened to me last night felt like a dream."

"Interesting" Giles said, as he took off his glassed and started cleaning them.

Buffy smiled. Giles wouldn't be Giles if he wouldn't take off his glasses and clean them whenever things got weird, scary or complicated.

The door opened again and Willow came in with a glass of water. She handed Buffy the glass and two aspirins.

"Thanks Will" Buffy said.

"I brought you two aspirins, instead of one. You look like you can use two aspirins." Willow explained.

"I_ feel _like I can use two aspirins" Buffy confirmed as she took the aspirins and swallowed them down with some water. She made a face. Those things are so gross.

Willow smiled.

"Can we get back on topic now, please" Giles asked as he put his glasses back on.

"Yes. Absolutely. My dream...that probably wasn't a dream. Well, I was standing in a....room. Although I'm not sure it was a room, because it didn't have a ceiling or walls....or a floor for that matter. I felt like I was standing on clouds. Everything was so serene...." Buffy paused.

"Since when do you use words like serene?" Willow asked, surprised.

"Read it in Vogue last week" Buffy explained.

Willow nodded understandingly.

"Anyway...there were people...well, shadows actually, but I knew they were people or had been people at one point. They spoke to me about sins. Mostly about greed though. Don't know why that was...I don't remember everything, but it had something to do with wishes. They told me I could wish anything."

"So...they were like genies?" Willow asked.

"I guess so. And they were powerful. Everything just showed they were powerful beyond understanding. They told me I could make one wish. Or not really a wish. It's more than that. It's a change. Because I deserved it or something...after all my suffering."

"Of course!" Giles suddenly spoke up.

Buffy gave him a weird look.

"I'm sorry. It's just...This explains it." Giles said.

"Explains what?"

"The paragraph in the book about the cave. It was written in an ancient language, quite similar to Latin. I managed to translate it a little and it said something about desires and wishes."

"That must have been it then...Now we at least know I was in the right cave" Buffy spoke.

"Did you make the wish?" Willow asked.

"I'm pretty sure I told them I needed time....And after that things just got blurry again. I really don't remember coming home or anything."

"You did seem a bit...distracted...when you got home" Willow said.

"I probably was distracted. And confused. I can really ask them for anything, you know? Seriously anything. I could ask them for....free ice-cream for the rest of my life, or a million dollars or...."

"For your mother to comeback" Giles suddenly finished her sentence.

Buffy looked down. She had thought about that too. She had just been afraid to say it out loud.

"Or for Angel to come back to you." Willow said. "Make him human."

Buffy nodded slowly.

"Maybe I shouldn't go back to the cave" she whispered.

"What do you mean?" Willow asked.

"There must be a catch. There's no way I can just ask them to bring someone back from the dead....without any consequences."

"Well...it _is_ a miracle-cave." Giles said.

Buffy smiled weakly. That was true of course. She sighed.

"So....should I go back?"

Willow shrugged.

"That's up to you. I just think the miracle-cave wouldn't have been in Giles' book if there wasn't some truth to it."

"Miracle-cave." Buffy repeated. "What kind of lame name is that anyway?"

"You should go back. They chose you. They invited you into their cave. Gave you a wish. You can't just ignore that" Giles said, ignoring Buffy's comment about the name of the cave.

"What the hell am I supposed to wish? I could make Angel human. Stop his suffering, but then I would always regret not bringing mom back. And vice versa. There are too many things to choose from...all selfish things of course...There are too many options. It's impossible for me to choose."

"They're not selfish things. You deserved it, Buffy." Willow assured her friend.

Buffy didn't believe that. She didn't even like it. She didn't want to make a wish. She just wanted last night to go away, so she could just get back to figuring out how to beat the First. This was stupid and it didn't make sense to her.

"Fine...I'll go and get it over with."

"What are you going to wish then?" Giles asked out of curiosity as Buffy got out of bed and walked up to her closet.

"Not sure...Although free ice-cream for the rest of my life is starting to sound really good right about now."

* * *

This time Buffy didn't even try to think of a way to avoid the light when it came her way. She just wanted to get it over with and she didn't care how many times she would have to pass out to make it end. Once again she felt as if she was in a dream world. She didn't feel it when she collapsed to the ground.

* * *

Buffy smiled when she stood in front of Willow's bedroom. She looked down at the box in her hands and smiled. She had really made the right decision. She was suprised she didn't feel as weird as she had last night, but she was sure there was an explanation for that. She softly knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"Come in" Willow's voice came from inside.

Buffy smiled and opened the door. With a huge grin on her face, she stepped into the room and walked up to Willow who was sitting at her desk. Buffy showed Willow the box.

"Look at these shoes I got!" She said, her smile growing wider.

"What?"

"I got these really awesome shoes. I wanted them and now I have them!"

Willow frowned.

"You...used...the wish....for shoes?" Willow asked, not believing her own ears.

Buffy laughed a little.

"Of course not, you idiot!"

She turned around and left the room, looking down at her shoes again and smiling. Willow stared at her. What was going on? Before she had the chance to ask or say anything about it, someone stepped into the room. For a few seconds, Willow couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe and she wasn't so sure her heart was still beating. She stared at the smiling figure in the doorway.

"Hi" Tara whispered.

* * *

In the other room, Buffy tried on her shoes. Her pretty, high-heeled, impossible to walk in-shoes. She had changed her mind. She loved wishes. Wishes were great!

* * *

A/N: Well...what do you think? Was it readable? One more thing: the dialogue between Buffy and Willow in the end, is also something Joss came up with. So...all the credit for that goes to Joss. The story around is something I came up with though....And of course I wrote it. I really think this would've been a nice idea for an episode. Maybe not with the miracle-cave, because that idea is actually kind of lame, but just...that Buffy gets an opportunity to make one wish. And I thought the whole 'new shoes-thing' was kind of cool. Okay...well...please leave a review! And I'll try to update my story Mindtricks asap! 

Steffanie (a.k.a Nice-one)


End file.
